The Last Battles
by crazy-wee-cat
Summary: With Voldemort's power growing ever stronger, and her past becoming even more uncertain, will Bella Swan be able to face the challenges headed her way and will her relationships stay strong? Sequel to Wizards and Vampires. Very much a work in progress.
1. Chapter 1

_Bonjour mes amies =) Soo sorry for the wait – I've been in France. By the way, did you know that Eclipse is called Hesitation in France? Weird, right? Anyway._

_This is the sequel to Wizards and Vampires. The Last Battles. Awful name, right? If anyone can come up with a really good one, I may change it. May =P Anyhoo, this _may_ be able to be read without reading W&V, if you're willing =P I dunno. You can try =) Anyhoo, enjoy. _

_I do not own Harry Potter or Twilight, and am not making anything from writing this story =) _

_Ooooh, yeah, in case you've forgotten the wonderful cliffhanger (did that count as a cliffhanger? who knows...) I dingied you on last time – here ya go. =) Enjoy..._

_Previously..._

"_I realised something when you were away..." he sighed, "I think...I think it's finally time that I told you...everything."_

"_Liiike?" I asked, my brow wrinkling._

"_This is totally the wrong place...the wrong time to tell you. But if I don't tell you now, I don't think I ever will." he ran a hand through his hair, which I noticed had greyed slightly. "Bella, honey - I'm not your father."_

The Last Battles

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was girl named Bella. She had a good life, but then He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named came back. Bella was sent to America, where she met a gorgeous vampire and they fell in love. When things had finally been resolved with him, she thought that her life couldn't get any better. Indeed, it couldn't – so it took the opposite route – it got worse. Eventually, she ended up with a murder to her name, and traumatic memories in her mind. But she was starting to plunder her way back into normality (as normal as the life of a teenage witch with a vampire boyfriend could be) – she had a lot of good things in her life. But she thought nothing else could go wrong until...

Until my father laid down the bombshell that he was not my father. And that was how I got here.

I was speechless. I think that was pretty much the only way to put it.

Last year had been a roller-coaster, pretty much. I say that, but that doesn't really get the full meaning across. If I was to tell someone that, they would think – yeah, a roller-coaster. Full of twists and turns, ups and downs. It's such an overused term that people don't really get the meaning of it.

I went to Alton Towers once. When I was about thirteen. My dad decided it would be fun for me and my family to do some muggle stuff. It was awesome, I have to say. I can see why muggles like it so much – it's probably the closest you could get to flying without magic. Although, I'm convinced that there were some wizards working behind the scenes in that place. How on earth some of those rides work, I'll never know.

Anyway, there was one ride, called Oblivion. If you've been on it, you remember it. This ride basically goes up and up and up, really high, and then plunges you down vertically. It's terrifying.

But you expect it. It's terrifying, but you can see it coming. There's so much building up to it, and then in about five seconds, it's over.

And life can be like that sometimes. You can tell something is going to happen, and everything is getting built up to this point – when everything just plunges down. You get absolutely terrified, but then you get pulled back up and it's over.

So as I stood facing my father, I hoped that this was the point when someone was about to pull me back up. The only difference here to what normally happened, was that it was as if somebody had put a blindfold on me and put me on Oblivion, and I didn't even know what ride I was on. For all I knew it could have been a caterpillar ride. I didn't know what was coming because I couldn't see. This also meant that I couldn't see what was coming to pull me back up.

_(A/N If you don't know what I'm talking about, go onto google images and type in "Oblivion Ride" it should come up with some pretty good images) _

I didn't know what to say. Sometimes, I'm not so good at this whole talking thing. Especially when it comes to situations like this. What was I saying? I had never ever been in a situation like this. These situations don't happen daily. So the most ingenious thing that I could come up with was:

"You _what?"_

My dad sighed, staring at me through his dark glasses. His face was unshaven, and from what I could see beneath the glasses, he had huge, dark bags under his eyes. He looked stressed. Had he been planning on telling me this for a while now? "Bella," he said my name slowly. Was that even my name? "I'm not your father."

Those words didn't sound right – they had never come out of his mouth in that order.

"What?" my voice was coming out louder than normal in the unusually quiet train station. It sounded oddly squeaky. I didn't understand what my dad was saying to me.

"I think," he paused, "I think it would be better if we continued this conversation at home."

Stepping into the house, I realised that I could not remember how I had gotten there. My mind was swirling with what my father – who may not actually have been my father – had just told me. It wasn't right, I decided. This was all just some stupid dream. I would wake up any minute now.

"Bella!" exclaimed a voice. I looked up to see my brother pop through a door and give me a hug. "How was Hogwarts?"

"Um, fine," I said, "Listen, I need to talk to...dad for a sec, okay?"

He raised his eyebrows, his expression confused. "Mm'kay." he murmured, and hopped back upstairs.

I turned around to face my dad. Or not. I didn't really know who he was anymore.

"So, you gonna explain what on earth you were goin' on about in the train station?" I asked him.

"Don't use that tone with me." he said in the way every parent would. Then he sighed. "Sorry. Old habits die hard, huh?" He chuckled half-heartedly.

I stared at him. "I can't believe this. Are you actually laughing?"

He shrugged, "I guess so."

"Can you please just tell me what's going on?"

He sighed, and leaned back against the kitchen counter. "I'm not your real father."

"I know that. You _said_ that! What I wanna know is why it's taken you this long to tell me!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air in frustration.

"I always tried to treat you like my own child, you know that? I treated you like my own, didn't I?"

"Oh, yes, totally. You know, all that detachment was _really_ the way you treat your own child!" That wasn't true. It wasn't – but words were just spilling out my mouth, I didn't know what I was saying.

"Bella, that's not fair."

"That's not fair!" I said, my voice rising. "You know what's not fair? The fact that you waited this long to tell me! And you know, now that you finally do – you decide me to tell me in a _train station?_ What the heck? So what else is there you haven't told me? Is mum my real mother? Was I just some kid who was forced on you?"

"Bella calm down."

"Oh my word!" I said loudly, "You want me to calm down? You just tell me that my whole life has basically been a lie, and you want me to _calm down?"_

"There's no need to be so over-dramatic, Bella. I know you're upset, but - "

"I'm not being over-dramatic, dad. Except, I don't think I have the right to call you that anymore, do I?" I was shouting now, but I didn't do anything to stop it.

He just stared at me, his mouth open. I waited for him to say something.

"I didn't think so. All these years, dad, all these years! When I was younger and used to _fall asleep_ waiting for you to come home from work, because you were there for so freaking long! You never talked to me, never let me know what was going on! You always had time for Fraser and Anna, because they were older than me – but I figured that all that – _all that, _was all right, because you were my dad! But you weren't – all that time, you _weren't_ my dad. So...I don't know if I can let that stuff go anymore."

I turned around and ran up to my room, leaving my dad standing there, a dejected look on his face, one hand out as if trying to half-heartedly stop me. My mind was whirling. I slammed the door to my familiar room, with the light orange walls, and the pictures of my family and friends on the walls. The bed, the untidy desk, the mirror that hung on the wall. The posters. But I didn't pay any attention to any of this, as I fell backwards onto my bed trying to sort out the turmoil in my brain.

Apparently my dad wasn't actually my dad. What did this mean? Was my mum really my mum? What about Fraser? Was he my brother? Anna, was she really my sister? Nothing made sense any more. It was almost as if all my life had been a complete lie. I didn't know what I could believe any more.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Bella. Then one day that girl didn't even really know who she was anymore.

_I can't believe how impossible it was to write that chapter! Okay peoples, _hopefully_ this story will be a lot less messy than the last one, seeing as I have actually sorta planned what's gonna happen. _

_Okay, let us get on to what we all really want to talk about..._

_I totally went to see Eclipse last night...hahaha =P Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell everyone...I've fallen out with the Twilight series recently =( Aach, well. I enjoyed the film all the same. So tell me my dearest readers – thoughts? Feelings? Anybody dislike Edwards sideburns? Anyone else think that Jasper needs a hair cut? Anyhoo, please tell me. _

_OH. and in more exciting news. Go on to imdb (dot) com – type in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, click on part one, click on the first trailer. Watch it – be prepared to be blown away! Ooooh my goooodness! aah =D_

_And also...has anybody else noticed that Comedy Central appears to have dingied scrubs? If you've noticed, please join me in emailing them so that they will take notice and put it back on...it's bad enough that E4 have dingied it for Big Brother...(I don't like BB btw...give me fiction, not reality)_

_In other news – crazy-wee-cat (moi) has now seen Switchfoot live – life is gooooood! They were amazing – the new dp is them – taken by me =) I was very close, and I got to meet them afterwards. Jon Foreman knows my naaame! Life is good_

_Anyhoo, I'm going to leave you to your lives now. Hope you enjoyed that first chapter =) Please review with thoughts and feelings...It's good to be back on this story now...hence the insane rambles =D _


	2. Chapter 2

_I don't own either stories, nor am I making any money from this. =D_

"Hey, baby girl," said the voice of my big brother, sidling his way in through the door. I quickly sat up and rubbed my eyes, not wanting him to know I'd been crying. I had done enough of that last year. He sat down beside me, and smiled at me gently.

"Hi," I mumbled quietly.

He looked at me sadly. "You've had one heck of a year, haven't you?" I shook my head, a small laugh escaping my mouth.

"You have no idea." I said.

He chuckled, "You have no idea how much you had us all worried when you were kidnapped back then. Never do that again, okay?"

I smiled, "I'll try my best."

"What was it like?" he asked me quietly.

"Terrifying." I said, my voice shaky. "Absolutely terrifying."

He nodded, and we sat in silence for a while. Then he spoke again. "Bella – what's going on with you and dad? I heard you shouting..."

He didn't know then. I had wondered. "He...he told me...he said that he's not my..." My throat choked up and I had to fight back tears. Fraser put his arm around me quickly, rubbing circles in my shoulder.

"Bella?" he said softly after a while.

"He told me he wasn't my real d-dad..."

I think he was shocked into silence. A bit like I had been. I bit my lip hard, and then he pulled me closer to him. "Oh, baby girl." he said softly.

He murmured comforting words into my ear, making me feel slightly better. We sat there for a while, then when I pulled back slightly, he said, "I can't believe him."

"Dad?" I asked, trying to ignore the twinging at the back of my mind, telling me that I had no right to call him that.

"Yeah." he said. "Him. I can't believe he would do that to you."

I sighed. "Yeah, well."

"You're still my sister ya know" he said after a while.

I looked up at him, "How can you know that?" I asked, confused.

"I remember the day you were born. Worst day of my life," he said jokingly, ruffling my hair. "I remember mum being pregnant." He smiled, "Sure, I was only five, but I still remember it."

I ran a hand through my hair, "So I still have one parent..." I mumbled. "Woo."

He smiled slightly, "So I'm still your brother. And Anna is still your sister...and mum is still your mum."

"Thanks Fraser." I said softly.

"No problem baby girl. Go to sleep now, it's getting late." Looking out the window, I noticed that it was indeed getting dark. I got into bed.

Later that night, I was awoken when I heard shouting from downstairs. I pulled a big hoodie on, and crept to the stairs edge to see what was going on. Dim lights were on downstairs, and I could see the shadows of two men - Dad and Fraser.

"...sorry, Fraser, but what did you expect me to do?"

"I expected you to tell her at an appropriate time! You just threw it on her – and after the year she has _had!"_

"The year she is going to have is going to be worse than this one, _believe_ me." stated my father, his voice quieter, so I had to strain my ears. I felt a bit like a toddler, listening in as my family fought.

"Well, why didn't you tell her before, then? She had the right to know! I mean, do you know how much you have confused her now! She's not even sure who she is any more!"

"Don't be so over dramatic!" snapped my father, "She's still the same _person!"_

That made me think. And I guessed, in a way, I was. I didn't really know where I had come from, or, well, _who _I had come from, but I was still Bella – still the same person. I could be whoever I wanted to be. Heck, I could be You-Know-Who's child, and it wouldn't really matter, because I would still be Bella.

When I realised this, I went back to my room and got back into bed. Even if my father wasn't who I thought he was, I was still me. I was still annoyed at him – of course I was, he went all this time without telling me...but I could still be me. It didn't really matter who my parents were.

The next couple of days were odd. I didn't really talk to my dad much. I still call him my dad, even if that's not really what he is. It's confusing. I spend sixteen years referring to him as my father, only to find out he's not – what on earth am I meant to call him now?

If I'm honest with myself, the only times I really saw him were mealtimes. I slept in (or, to be more honest, read in my bed) well after he and Fraser had left for work, and then I saw him at dinner, before I left to go to my room.

I was sitting downstairs one day – about a week after I had gotten back, when an owl flew in through the open window, and attempted to land on my shoulder, but missed, and fell to the floor. I snorted, but let it go, as it flew up and landed successfully this time, holding out its leg.

"Hey Errol," I murmured, stroking the Weasley family owl. I unrolled the letter from his leg, and began to read.

_Dear Bella, _the letter read

_How're your holidays? Man, it's been a whole week! Why haven't you written yet? Well, I guess I haven't either, but that is hardly the point, okay? Maybe you've just been really busy. Anyway, back to the point._

_It's Bill and Fleur's wedding on August 1st, and you're coming, obviously! But you need to come earlier...I'll tell you more when you get here. When can you come? I miss you! Mum says that you're welcome any time you wanna come, and you'll get to see Edward and the rest of the Cullens more, obviously, 'cause they hang around the house a lot. Anyway, I can't say much else, 'cause it's not all that safe. Write back!_

_Love Ginny_

I smiled. Thank goodness! I would be getting a release from this house! I wrote a quick note back and sent it with Errol, saying that I would love to, but I needed to check with my dad first.

He came home from work at that precise moment, Fraser behind him, and told me we were going out for dinner. I raised an eyebrow, wondering why they had chosen now to go out for dinner. We didn't normally do this unless it was a special occasion , like somebody's birthday or something. But I ran upstairs to get changed into something nicer, finally opting for a pair of jeans and a nice top. I shrugged, not really caring if it was too casual.

"Nice burgers," my brother supplied, trying to save the already dead conversation. I rolled my eyes at the huge burger he had ordered. It was colossal. It was also likely that he would eat the whole thing. I don't know where he put all the food he ate. He wasn't fat at all. It was so unfair.

"Yeah." said Gary, my brother in law. He was married to my sister, Anna. They had both come along to the restaurant for some reason. Nobody told me why. "Good meat,"

Wow. This was awkward...nobody really knew what to say. You could cut the tension with a knife. Subtly, I lifted my knife up, to see if I could make a visible slice through the air, or the tension, as I had put it. _Bella_, I wrote, trying not to laugh at my own stupidity. I looked up and into the eyes of my seemingly bewildered family, all trying to work out what on earth I was doing.

"Sorry," I murmured, blushing bright red.

They all seemed confused, and then my dad, of all people, burst out laughing. The rest of them did not take long to join in, and soon we were all laughing like the family we were. And with that, the tension was gone, disappeared, as if I had popped the bubble whilst attempting to cut it with my knife. I grinned to myself. Even if the man sitting across from me was not my dad, maybe it wasn't so bad...at least we could still be a family. He had been the one who had brought me up, hadn't he?

It was amusing to watch Fraser get slightly more and more tipsy with each glass of firewhisky he drank. (We were at a wizards restaurant, called _Afta. _I didn't understand the name either.) Fraser had always been pretty steady with the drink, but firewhisky was particularly strong and he wasn't exactly holding back with the amount he drank.

The conversation was flowing easily - we were all laughing and joking and just generally enjoying ourselves, the way a family should.

"Where's Faith, Fraser?" (_A/N, for those of you who had forgotten – I had, too – Faith is Frasers fiance. And Fraser is Bella's brother. And Gary is Anna's husband, and Anna is Bella's sister.) ,_asked Anna, "I haven't seen her in ages!"

"Oh! Faith," said Fraser, giggling to himself. I had never seen my brother giggle before. It was an odd experience. "She is with her familyyy," he said, dragging out the end of the word _family."_So, Dad," he said, moving on the conversation, "I've been meaning to ask you," he was slurring his words, and we were all laughing at him. "Don't laugh!" he exclaimed, "This is serious! Dad! I've been meaning to ask you!"

"What is it, son, we don't have all day." he said.

"You know with the whole, you not being Bella's reeeal dad, and all that!" I felt my body stiffen. Everybody had gone quiet and stopped laughing.

"Yes." said dad stiffly.

"Well, if you're not her real dad, then _who is?"_ he asked.

That was a good question, actually, I thought. I hadn't even thought about that. I had been more caught up on the fact that he wasn't my dad. Who was my _real _dad? _Ha,_ I thought, _Betcha it's Dumbledore._ I then laughed at myself. It couldn't be Dumbledore. It just couldn't. What if it was James Potter? And that's why my mum hated Lily so much! No way! Oh my goodness! What if it's _You-Know-WHO! _I was the child of He-Who-Not-Be-Named!

_Calm. Down. _I mentally berated myself. i was going to far. You-Know-Who was not my father. But then, what if it was like _Star Wars? _

_You are not Luke Skywalker, _I told myself, _You are Bella Swan, and you need to pull yourself together!_

I pulled myself back to reality, hearing my father say, "I don't feel that this is a conversation for right now, Fraser. And I think Bella should be the first one to know."

"No," I said, deciding my input in this was needed. "I don't care if they know. They're gonna find out anyway. Who is my father?"

He sighed, and ran a hand quickly through his hair. "Bella - "

"Just tell m – us!" I interrupted.

"If you're sure?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows. I nodded, "Well...have you ever met a man named Remus Lupin?"

My jaw dropped, and I nodded numbly. I was waiting for him to laugh and say "_It's not him." _He didn't.

"It's him."

_Nobody kill me! Okay, just answer me this – d'you all think that's really stupid? I hope not =/ _

_Anyhooo! Thank you all for the wonderful amount of review you gave me on the first chapter! It made me very happy! And I'm very sorry if the style of this is really weird...I've been reading far too many scrubs fics recently...I'm obsessed...Oh! And if I don't upset between now and next friday, then don't expect another update for at least the next two weeks...it's camp time! =D Two in a roow...go me =) Anyway, hope you enjoyed that chapter, nobody kill me and please review! =D _


	3. Chapter 3

The whole table appeared to be shocked into silence. For a while, we had all been wondering who my father was – as long as it was unknown, it could have been anyone. It was like the theory about the cat – if you put a cat in a box with some poison, you do not know whether it is alive or dead – so it is in a state of in between, not dead, but not alive. Now, personally, not being a muggle scientist, and only having read about this in a muggle book called _Flashforward, (A/N, awesome book, crazily different from the tv series...so sad the series was cancelled ='() _I was not exactly what you could call an expert, but from what I had read about it, I thought it was slightly stupid, and, dare I say it, big-headed of the human race. To think that knowledge was what made things real was slightly stupid. Just because we don't know if the cat is alive or dead, does not mean that it is neither. Knowledge is what helps us understand things, it is not what shapes things.

For instance, there was a while when the human race did not know what shape the world was, and assumed it to be flat, but that did not mean that it _was_ flat. We just thought it was. To think that us knowing things is what makes them these things is just silly.

For a while, none of us, apart from our "dad", knew who my father was. We thought that it could have been anyone, I could have been the daughter of royalty, I could have been a half blood, for all we knew, I could have been the daughter to You-Know-Who himself. But my father was Remus Lupin, and just because we didn't know it, it didn't make it untrue. He had always been my father by blood, and will always be my father by blood, whether anybody knew it or not.

Aside from that thought, however, I thought that in the past few minutes I had possibly considered every possibly man that could be my father. Somehow Remus Lupin had slipped my mind. I didn't know why, but he had. I couldn't decide how I felt about it...I mean, he had been my _teacher_. Sure, I hadn't known he was my father then...but he had been the best DADA teacher any of us had ever had, but still...as I thought about that, I felt myself swell in pride a little. But did he know? What if...what if all this time he had known, and had never told me?

If that were the case...I don't know what I would do.

"Does he know?" asked Anna softly, her face shocked. She didn't know him well – she had left school by the time he came, but she had met him before.

He shook his head. "No. I don't think your mother ever told him." he looked me straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry I never told you before..." he sighed, "I didn't know what I was meant to do..."

"D...Dad," I forced the word out, even though I knew he wasn't my dad. "I guess...I guess it's not your fault. It's okay. And I'm sorry for the way I've been acting the past few days..."

"Thank you Bella." he said with a smile. I knew that we both needed to get that off our chests. Even if neither of us had said very much.

I suddenly wondered what I would do when I next saw Lupin...he was my father – and he didn't know. He did deserve to know, but I don't think I should be the one to tell him. By all rights my mum should have been the one to tell him, but she couldn't. Who would tell him then?

"Man." said Edward, once I had finished telling him everything that had gone on. We were sitting in my back garden, with a picnic beside us. He, of course, wasn't eating anything, but I was. Edward had _finally_ been let off duty for a day, so we were having what you might call a "date".

"Man?" I asked. Since when did Edward ever say _Man?_

He shrugged. "I think Emmett's been getting to me. I've been spending a bit too much time with him." I nodded understandingly. I loved Emmett, he was like my big brother, but too much of him could possibly be overpowering. I wasn't sure how Rosalie could stand it all the time. Edward shook his head, "So, what do you think you're gonna do?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "Who knows? I can't tell Lupin he's my dad, because really, what are the chances he'll believe me? And when would I tell him anyway? And what evidence do I have? My dads words?" He nodded, clearly agreeing with what I was saying. "But then, in the same way, I can't just not tell him. How am I expected to see him _knowing_ that he's my dad, and not being able to tell him!"

"It's difficult." sighed Edward.

"Welcome to my world," I sighed.

"I honestly don't know what to say," he told me, "I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry, I didn't come expecting to get answers, I just needed to unload."

He smiled, "I love you."

I laughed, "Love you tooo!" I smiled, and then shook my head, "Ugh, this is such a mess!"

He rubbed my knee with the hand that wasn't holding mine. "It'll be okay. Just you wait."

I sighed. "Yeah. I hope so."

(_A/N, this whole chapter writing thing is taking longer than I thought =P Ever heard of writers block? Yeah, it has caught up with me yet again...so while i'm here, i shall tell you all to go and read the Road =) If you're old enough...it's kinda scary =/ so...i don't know, but it's an adults book, and the film is a 15. but it's good if you think you can handle it =) Right, I need to write more...)_

I was glad that I had made up with my dad before I had left to go to the burrow for the rest of the summer. I mean, this year was going to be a hard one for everyone, because You-Know-Who was getting more and more powerful by the day, and, if I was honest, I didn't know if I would ever see my dad again, after I had left. Something could happen to either one of us, and we'd both be left feeling incredibly guilty that we had never made things up between us. So I'm glad we had that talk.

But _Remus Lupin?_ I 'm still shocked. I'll probably see him when I'm at the Burrow, because it's now a sort of headquarters for the order of the phoenix, we still have the other one we built, but that's only really used for official purposes - "big meetings" and such. But mainly, everyone will be coming to and from the Burrow to report how things have gone etc.

Which means that I'll have to see him. I don't know what I'll do when that happens...but I can't tell him. I wouldn't be able to...But I want him to know.

It's quite the dilemma.

_Hello =) I am still alive! I'm sorry for the wait! I was at camp (which was awesome, btw) and then when I got back, it was straight into school, and they've been chucking tests etc at us, which I find rather unfriendly, personally. Sorry for the short length of this chapter also, but I figured I had to give you all something, and this was what I had =) Hopefully the next chapter will be better and more exciting – and hopefully up soon, but I wouldn't bet on it...I have a NAB tomorrow, a test on monday and then another NAB next week...which is rather sad for me. _

_Anyhoo, pleaase review, tell me thoughts and ideas =) _


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own either stories! =) _

I woke up, and smiled at the roof. I was back – back at the Burrow. I loved this place. I always felt at home here. I sat up, pushed my hair out of my face, and looked at my watch to check the time. 9:45. I had slept in later than normal. Today everyone was going to Harry's relatives house to pick him up. We had all had a meeting last night, deciding on how we were going to do it. Hermione said Harry was going to refuse to participate in it, to which Moody replied that he would have to.

I looked over at Ginny's bed and saw that she had already got up, and was obviously downstairs with everybody else. I felt really sorry for her...she would never admit it to anyone other than Hermione and I, nor would she ever show it in her face, but she was really upset about breaking up with Harry. I think the only thing that made it easier was that the reason for it wasn't anything to do with him not liking her anymore...I think maybe we even underestimated how much he liked her – I mean, he broke up with her because of how much he liked her, because he knew he was putting her in danger. In a way, I knew how she felt. It was exactly how Edward had acted when we first got together – and I was sure if he hadn't found out that I could fend for myself he would have done it again.

But still, I'm sure it didn't make it any easier to have to hear about him every single day.

Ginny and I had to stay at the Burrow while they went to pick him up – because we were underage. Besides, Mr Weasley had told us, someone needed to keep Mrs Weasley company and make them all tea for when they got back.

Still annoying though. I wanted to go. I cared for Harry – he was my friend, and it was weird being on the sidelines, seeing as the last couple of years I had been doing _something_ when something was happening to do with him. Well, when something was happening, it was normally to do with him.

I got up and, after getting ready, hopped down the stairs quickly. I hated being out of the action, so tonight would be quite scary for me. I didn't like the waiting part, the not knowing what was going on.

Luckily, none of the Cullens were going, so that was one less thing that I had to worry about. Instead, they were all going to secure the place for the Dursleys to stay at. They said it would be a quick job, and they'd probably be back to support us as we waited for everyone to come home safely. Hopefully.

I walked into the kitchen, and felt somebody ruffle my hair. I turned around, confused. Nobody had been behind me, had they? There stood Emmett, grinning dopily at me.

"What were you doing up there?" I asked suspiciously. It seemed odd that Emmett would be upstairs were all the bedrooms and bathrooms were when he didn't need to use either.

"I was watching you sleep," he said, matter of factly.

"_What?"_ I demanded, "Emmett, that is unbelievably weird and...creepy!" Well, it was! Who watches people _sleep_ without them knowing? It was so...ugh!

To my complete and utter confusion, he let out a booming laugh, and sat down next to Jasper, who bumped fists, triumphant looks on both faces.

"Told ya she thought it was creepy Edward." said Emmett, grinning.

I suddenly realised what they'd done.

"No!" I exclaimed, "It's...it was different when Edward did it...he...he..." I sat down next to Edward and looked at him pleadingly. He smiled at me and then turned to Jasper and Emmett with a glare.

"It's not creepy. You would have done it to with Alice and Rosalie."

"Yeah, but they would have known about it." said Emmett.

Ginny turned to us, her eyebrows raised. "Wait a minute...Edward you watched Bella sleep, _without_ her knowing it?"

Edward shrugged, "It made me feel calmer."

Hermione shivered, "Ew, Edward."

"That is really creepy." said Ginny, as Jasper and Emmett laughed.

"Come on, Edward, admit it, it was weird and creepy and...'ew'." said Emmett, grinning.

"No! It was a perfectly normal thing to do. Sure it was Bella?"

I felt slightly caught off guard as I was randomly brought back into the conversation, "I-I yeah. Uh, sure."

"Admit it Bella." said Jasper, looking towards me, and seeming to focus his golden eyes on me, unwaveringly. "You think it was weird."

"Okay, maybe a little!" I blurted out, then clapped a hand over my mouth as Jasper and Emmett high fived, laughing their heads off. "No! Jasper, no fair! You can't just use your emotion thingy like thaat!" I whined.

"Sure I can." he chuckled, "You do it all the time with your magic."

"I do not!"

He just laughed and nodded.

I turned to Edward, "I'm sorry, I don't mean it, honest.

"It's okay," he said, but he did look a little hurt.

Mrs Weasley then bustled in with a pile of bacon sandwhiches, "What are you all talking about?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

It was one of those odd moments in time that only happen about once to each teenager in their lives, where every single person there said, at exactly the same time: "Nothing!".

Mrs Weasley looked suspicious and opened her mouth to say something, when the knock of the door cut her off, and she bustled off to get it.

Emmett leaned forward to Edward and said, "We're not finished here...you still owe me and Jasper 20 bucks. Each."

"You bet on it?" I hissed to Edward.

"Well I was confident that you didn't find it creepy!" he exclaimed.

"Come on, Edward, you broke into the room in the middle of the night and watched me sleep...how is that not creepy?" I demanded.

He shrugged. "Touché."

A voice floated into as Mrs Weasley and someone else walked further into the kitchen.

"Dora's coming later, Molly," he said, "She's just doing final organisations with her parents."

"Lovely, dear. Would you like some breakfast?" she asked.

"I just ate. Dora's a great cook." He said with a smile. I stiffened as I recognised the voice and looked up to see the face of Remus Lupin.

I guessed it would only be a matter of time until I bumped into him. After all, this was being substitute headquarters – it was easier to get to than the one the Cullen's had built. That one was only used for extremely important meetings. Dumbledore had commissioned it, and everyone silently agreed that it felt slightly wrong to go there without him.

But seeing him here, made butterflies erupt in my stomach. I wasn't sure why, but suddenly I was hyper aware of everything I was doing. It was like I was sure Lupin could read my mind and just _tell _that I had a secret.

I didn't think he was a Leglimens though. All I wanted to do was get out of this room – other wise I would just blurt it out. Luckily, however, he left to go and see Arthur.

I knew I would have to talk to him sooner or later. But not now. Now just seemed wrong.

An hour later, almost everyone who was taking part in the mission for today had arrived. Edward and I had taken the back garden to escape from it all.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly, rubbing his thumb around my hand.

I shrugged, "I dunno. It's just weird, you know? No matter how many times I tell myself that he's my dad, I still don't think I quite get it. And you know what I don't understand?"  
He shook his head.

"My mum must have done something with him while she was married to my dad...it just seems wrong. All these years I grew up thinking my mum was the greatest person in the world, and now I found out that she's this person who just seems to betray people for her own gain...It's just so different to the picture I had made for myself."

Edward nodded, "It's hard," he murmured, "But you know, you have so many people here, so many people that you can talk to, and that will be there for you."

"I don't want too many people to know," she said, "One thing I can't stand is sympathy. I don't mind it from one person, I don't mind one person knowing...but the looks of sympathy, the hugs, the 'how are you doing''s...it all drives me crazy."

He nodded again, "I won't tell anyone."

"Edward," came the voice of Carlisle from behind us. "It's time for us to go."

"Thanks Carlisle. I'll meet you inside."

He nodded, and walked back in. Edward leaned over, took my face in his hands and kissed me gently. I smiled into the kiss, and then hugged him tightly.

"Be safe," I told him.

"You too," he said. "You coming in?" he asked, helping me to my feet. I looked around at the unusually cold day, and shook my head. I think I'll stay out here for a while.

He smiled, "Okay. I love you." he said. "So much."

"I love you more." I told him.

"Not humanely possible," he said, shrugging his shoulders, in a "watcha gonna do?" attitude.

I pointed to myself, "I'd say I was only part human. Part human, part witch."

"Still," he said, "You have the human emotions,"

"I still love you more," I stated.

"I guess we'll have to agree to disagree." He said, a light smile brightening up his features.

I nodded, "Love you." I said, "See you later."

"You too," he murmured, and ran into the house.

I walked over to the fence at the edge of the garden, and realised how long we had spent outside. The light was beginning to dim – unnaturally early for a summer day, but I think it was because of all the fog, etc. I stared out at the outside, wondering what this evening held for us. I was scared, but I knew we could get through it. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

_I'm back guys! Ugh, man, it has been too long. _

_Tip!_

_If you are having some terrible writers block, follow these easy steps to get your muse back (:L)_

_1- Go on a long holiday, take you laptop with you, but write nothing._

_2- When you get back from said holiday, make sure that your laptop is indeed broken and that you cannot extract any information from it._

_3- Feel very said over the loss of random one shots, and half chapters that you have written._

_4- Make sure your older brother gives you an old laptop of his, which is huuuge, and rather annoying._

_5 – Copy all the stories from , and save them. Then back them up so that you do not lose them again. Silly._

_6- Read your story again, and your muse shall be restored!  
_

_Haha, in other words, this is what happened to me =P I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it was a bit of a filler =) I'll try and update soon, even though I have millions of nabs and tests heading my way =( Revieew pleaaaase! =D _


	5. Chapter 5

_I don't own either stories._

_Since it's been a while, here's a reminder of everything that's happened – _

_In the previous story, Bella murdered a man in self defence. _

_Bella knows that Remus Lupin was actually her father, as her mother had an affair with him while she was married to her husband. She knows, but Remus does not. Oh, the drama. Also, we found out in the previous story, that her mother was the reason that Harry's parents are dead, due to the fact that she was a seer and had a vision of the future and the defeat of Voldy. _

_I think that's about all you need to remember. For this chapter at least._

_On with the story. _

Chapter five

_I was standing in the meadow in Forks. Edward was not there and the previously beautiful flowers had all withered. It was raining lightly, and I could hear thunder in the distance. I tried to leave, but my legs were held by the withered plants. The brown stems wrapped around my legs and held them down. As I struggled, I fell over onto my front, and tried to scream, but no sound came out. When I looked up, unable to move due to the stems which were now coiling round my entire body, I could see three pairs of dark shoes – two pairs were very small. Suddenly, the plants let me go, and I sat up, staring at the face of a crying woman, and two children who were holding onto her desperately, as if she was their lifeline._

"_What's wrong?" I tried to say, but nothing would come out my mouth. She continued to weep, and I was helpless to stop it. Suddenly she looked at me, and her eyes were filled with rage. I recoiled, terrified. _

"_You," she said. Her voice was shrill, and reminded me briefly of grinding metal. "You killed him."_

"_What?" I tried to say, I tried to defend myself. "It wasn't me!"_

"_You are the reason. The reason I no longer have a husband, the reason my children no longer have a father. Our grief is your fault. You should die for what you did to my family."_

"_No!" I tried to scream, and watched as she advanced towards me. I closed my eyes, terrified, as I realised that the dead plants were trapping me again, and the children suddenly opened their eyes – and they were red._

I woke up with a start, gasping.

It was just a dream, I told myself. Just a dream. Looking at my watch, I realised that it was about time I was getting up anyway, as I could hear people frantically running around all over the house. I slipped into the shower, and tried to wash the dream out of my mind.

Feeling guilty, I realised that I had completely forgotten, in the rush of the past few weeks, about the man that I had murdered. I had been told countless times that it wasn't my fault, it was in self defence, but I could not get rid of the guilt of having killed another...one with a family, a life. Deep down inside, I knew that the man had been a death eater, and I knew that he was probably not the kindest of men. But I also knew that not all death eater's were evil...some were cowards.

Shaking of the memories of the curse that flew from my wand, I quickly got into my dress for the wedding that was taking place that very day. I left my hair to dry naturally, knowing that Edward liked it like that, and being unable to think of any way to make it nicer. I put on light make-up, and quickly slipped into a pair of heels that I knew I would grow to resent as the day drew on, I then proceeded to go downstairs.

I quickly realised that the living room had been transformed into a sort of dressing room, and was about to leave, before Fleur (who was not yet in her dress, but her hair was done) dragged me into the centre to "fix zat hair". Apparently they wanted me to have a more sophisticated approach. Mrs Weasley fixed my hair into a messy bun, with my fringe straightened at the front, and a few curls hanging down the sides of my face to frame it. There were curls hanging down from the bun as well. I smiled, as the overall effect was quite nice.

Ginny appeared then, her hair also done elegantly, with her dress already on. Mrs Weasley was waving a camera around, tears in her eyes and forced us to pose while she took a hundred and one photos of us, then taking even more when Hermione appeared. Her hair was already done, what a pro.

Hermione and I then exited the room, so that the bridal parted could get sorted, and met Harry and Ron outside. "You look great!" exclaimed Ron to both of them, but I could tell that it was mostly directed at Hermione. Mostly because he was staring at her with his eyes wide.

"Always the tone of surprise," Hermione smiled, though I could tell that inside she was secretly screaming. I smiled at Harry and told him that he looked nice, and then leaned forward to whisper: "Just wait till you see Ginny," He blushed brightly, and muttered something incoherently. I don't know what he said, but I laughed deciding that my comment had the desired effect. I then saw Edward inside the house looking out a window, and skipped over to talk to him. Well, I didn't _actually _skip, due to the heels that I was wearing.

"You look beautiful," he said. I smiled bashfully, looking down at the deep blue dress I was wearing. To be honest, it had taken one shopping trip to find it...I didn't like dress shopping. He couldn't come out to the wedding, as it was sunny and he would, of course, become a giant disco ball for everyone to appreciate. But he could come for the reception later, when it got dark and he wouldn't steal the attention from the bride.

"Thanks," I smiled sweetly at him, "You look rather dashing, also." He laughed lightly, and leaned in for a casual kiss. (_A/N casual kiss? I don't know. I'm tired. Just be happy that I'm updating :L)_

The wedding ceremony was beautiful, which was unsurprising. Fleur was absolutely radiant, and she seemed to fill the entire room with her beauty. It was at the reception when Tonks skipped over and sat beside me, Lupin following behind. My stomach jumped into my throat, and I was suddenly very aware that my father was sitting two places away from me.

I had to tell him. I knew that.

"You look beautiful, Bella!" Tonks exclaimed, smiling brightly.

"Thanks," I said, smiling tentatively, "You look great too!"

We talked for a while, before a random man came over and asked Tonks for a dance. She laughed and agreed, and Lupin didn't seem to mind. But that just left Remus and I, alone.

"It was a beautiful ceremony," I said to him, unable to cope with how awkward I was feeling. He nodded lightly, not really commenting. I searched my mind for something to say, that wasn't _you're my dad. _

"You knew my mother?" I said suddenly, and then almost slapped my head for saying that aloud. He looked at me, his eyes searching, before nodding.

"Yes," he said quietly, "She was a wonderful woman."

"My dad said..." I gulped, wondering why I was saying this out loud. "He said that you knew her well?"

"One could say that." His expression was unreadable.

"It's just..." I said, "She's dead, you see." He looked at me, his eyebrows raised. "And I don't remember her very well. It was a long time ago, and I was young. If you knew her...couldn't you tell me...more about her?"

He visibly relaxed, and I knew that he had not forgotten about the things he had done with my mother. "Could your own father not tell you about her?" he asked.

"I suppose," I said, "But he doesn't like to talk about her. And..." I leaned in as if sharing a great secret, "My brother told me that after I was born, well, they weren't as close as they used to be. Something that she did, apparently. I don't know what, though." I shrugged, leaning back. His body was tense again.

He looked as if he were searching desperately for something to say. "It has...been a long time since I spoke to her." He said, "Obviously. But she was a wonderful woman. Whatever she did...I did not know about it. Now, if you excuse me – "

He made to stand up, but I put a hand on his arm quickly, "Are you sure?" I asked, looking up at him pleadingly. "I've been lied to for so long, please just tell me if you know anything. Please."

He shook his head, "I don't know anything. She was a wonderful person."

"But Lily Potter disliked her, didn't she? Why was that?"

"She was an ambitious woman, so was Lily. Their personalities clashed,"

"_I know what my mother did, okay?" _ I exclaimed suddenly, desperate to get some emotion out of my father. "I know that she betrayed Harry's parents. What I _don't _ know, however, is why you still..."

He stared at me, his eyes wide, "I have to go," he said quickly, and dashed off into the darkness. I shivered, holding my arms around myself, shaking my head. I knew it was too much to ask, but I just wanted him to be there for me the way a father should. I just wanted somebody, for once, to be completely honest with me.

Edward was at my side, it now being dark enough for him to be out, and he asked me if I was okay. I shook it off and told him I was fine – I knew he didn't believe me, but he left it. It was then that Kingsley's patronus appeared. And that was when everything went crazy.

I shoved Edward away and told him, okay, more like commanded him, to get the other Cullen's and get to the Headquarters that they had built last year. He was going to object, but the look in my eyes made him change his mind, and he ran off. I grabbed my wand, and ran over to Ginny.

"What do we do?" I asked her desperately. She shook her head, her wand out, but her gaze was watching Harry, Ron and Hermione disapparate. I sighed, knowing that that was them gone for now. We knew that this time would come, but it was weird knowing that they wouldn't be coming back until You-Know-Who was killed.

The entire place was in chaos. Guests were running and disapparating, and I saw Lupin and Tonks both cast a protective charm over the place. I noticed Fred and George running into the house.

Moments later there were a couple of pops, and two death eaters appeared. Silence reigned in the garden.

"Everybody listen up!" yelled one of them. "We know you have Harry Potter, and you will tell us where he is."

"He's not here," Mr Weasley said, bravely walking forward.

"Lies!" yelled the other, "Why would he not be here? And the boy, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Where are they?"

"Hermione has moved away, with her parents. It was sudden, but it was necessary. And Ron is very ill, in bed." I noticed Fred and George had entered the garden silently.

The death eater raised his eyebrows, and then said, "Take us to him."

"Okay," said Mr Weasley, raising his arms. "But he is very infectious. You should not be around him."

He just grunted, and Mr Weasley shrugged and showed one into the house. They came back moments later, and it appears that it had been confirmed that Ron was indeed, ill with spattergroit, and that nobody should go near him. They then searched the place for Harry, and I was suddenly glad that I had sent the Cullen's away, as, even though You-Know-Who already knew about them, I knew that he would want them on his side and I couldn't have that. I couldn't have them in danger.

Hours later, they left. Mrs Weasley ushered as all inside, and tried to make us all hot chocolate for us. When she realised the absence of the trio, she burst into tears.

"I know it's for the best," she sobbed, "But I don't want them to go. I don't want them to be in danger. They're my children."

I knew that if Harry were here, he would be smiling at the obvious acceptance into the Weasley family.

"But we're all safe." Said Mr Weasley, putting his arms around her. "And they got away. That's what matters."

She nodded wearily. Bill and Fleur said that they were going to go to their new house, and Mrs Weasley hugged them for perhaps longer than she would have. Once they had left, Mr Weasley told us that even though the wards were back up, nobody would leave the house for tonight, as we were being watched. It made me nervous. He then informed me that he would send a patronus to the Cullen's to let them know that he would tell them when it was safe for them to come back.

I went to bed that night with a heavy heart.

_Why, hello there, dearest readers! Yes, I am indeed still here and alive. Please don't shoot me. I'm aware that I haven't updated in a very long time, and I'm very very very sorry! I won't bother with excuses, because you probably don't want to hear them =P However, I have created something of a plot for this story, after much procrastination and annoyance. And no, I will not be torturing the characters too much because I dislike them. I actually had fun writing this chapter so writing this shouldn't be too difficult. I hope you liked it! I'm afraid I can't promise regular updates, due to that whole "school" thing, as it's difficulty has increased tenfold since last year! But I do promise that I will try as hard as I can. I finished my other story, _In Hiding, _so now I only have two on the go, so it shouldn't be too difficult,_

_Oh my word, it's actually been a year since I updated, hasn't it? I just checked. I'm sooo sorry, time just runs away from me! Anyway, I hope any of you that have it in your hearts to forgive me will continue to read, and I hope you all review! Love you lots, and thank you for the support you've all given me despite my terrible updating! This story has managed to reach over fifty reviews with four chapters and a distinct lack of updates, so thank you all so much! I love you all to bits! Please review!_

_Crazy-wee-cat xx_


	6. Chapter 6

"_"For Harry?" I whispered. Hermione and Luna nodded._

_"For Harry." they repeated."_

-just to cheer you all up! I was reading some of my older chapters from W&V, and I saw I had written this at one point...could I have been more blatant in my Lord of the Rings quotes? Oh my word...:L

_I _still_ don't own either stories. Surprise. _

Chapter six

"Bella-bee!" I heard a voice exclaim as I was just finishing pulling my trunk down the many stairs of the Burrow. I looked round to see Emmett bouncing up to me, looking just like a little child on Christmas. The Cullens were back at the Burrow to see me off before I went to Hogwarts. They weren't here for long, as we all knew we were being watched, but the wards were back up, and nobody unwanted was able to get into the Burrow now. The vampires would be going back to Headquarters as soon as I left, for their own safety, the location of which still being unknown to the Death Eaters.

"Bella-bee?" I asked raising an eyebrow. He just smiled and dragged me in for a tight hug.

"Emmett," I gasped, when I decided that it would be nice to breathe again, "Need to breathe!"

"Oh, sorry," he said, putting me down gently. I rolled my eyes.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Oh! Yeah," he said, "We just all want to talk to ya before you go to Hoggywarts."

I nodded, ignoring his odd word choice, and he grabbed my hand and pulled me outside, practically skipping with delight. I would never understand how a man with so much manliness and muscle could be so childish when he was happy.

"Okay, what's going on, guys?" I asked, smiling when I saw the whole Cullen family gathered in the garden.

"Hey, Emmett!" said Edward, smiling crookedly and completely ignoring my question, "Hands off my woman!"

Emmett just laughed and drew me closer. Rosalie grabbed him away with a glare just for me. I sighed. Guess she still wasn't too keen on me. Oh well.

I wandered over to Alice, who was on her knees, holding and talking happily to a little gnome. It was staring up at her with a mix of bewilderment and love on its face, as if it was confused, yet fascinated by this odd creature that was taking the time to talk to her.

"Uh, Alice?" I said. She looked up at me. "I think you're confusing the poor thing..."

"I can vouch for that," Edward said, wandering over and draping his arm around my shoulders. (_A/N in retrospect, that makes him sound like a curtain...) _"But it also seems to think you're rather beautiful."

It was odd, the way he said that. He didn't seem to mean it as a compliment. He said it factually. Although, I guess, they were all vampires...it was just sort of a given that they were attractive. A fact of life. It didn't really mean anything to say it, because that's the way everyone was. I was pulled out of my musings, when Jasper bit out a loud _"Anyway!"_

"Oh, yeah!" said Alice, getting to her feet, and opening her bag that I hadn't noticed was beside her, pulling out a flat, brown package. Edward took it from her and handed it to me.

"What's this?" I asked, pulling the paper away to reveal a hand-held mirror. "Um, thanks guys...but they do have these at Hogwarts you know. And I'm not _that_ vain..."

Carlisle laughed, and stepped forward. "It's not just a mirror, Bella. We have one as well, and they're sort of linked. I don't really understand the logistics of it, to be honest, but if you say one of our names then it'll sort of...buzz, and we can talk through it. Like...skype, or something."

After having lived in America for a while, I knew what skype was, but I had to laugh at the description. "Or the mirrors in Beauty and Beast..." I breathed, awed by this device. "Guys, this is amazing. But you know we can send letters? Like last year..."

Jasper smiled, "Well, we thought that too. But Arthur was talking to Carlisle about the school the other day, and we were all quite worried about you, ever since Snape took over Hogwarts and all that. Arthur thinks that they'll start intercepting the mail at some point, and well, it's too dangerous to use the fires, so we decided the mirrors would be the best way to do it."

"This is awesome!" I exclaimed. "How did you come up with this?"

"It was Remus' idea, actually." Edward said slightly cautiously, knowing that I still wasn't comfortable around Lupin. "He said that Harry's dad and Sirius Black used to use something like this when they were at school. He helped us make them, and Arthur helped too, on the condition that they could use them when they needed to."

I grinned and hugged all of them in turn. Jasper stiffened a little, and I knew that he still found the whole "being near humans" things difficult, but I decided to risk it. Rosalie sort of growled at me when I hugged her, but I just shrugged it off. "Thank you guys so much!"

"It's no problem at all," Esme said with a smile, "I don't think any of us could cope not knowing how you were doing this year."

"Yeah, especially with the complaints that Edward would give us all the time," quipped Alice, and he just smiled.

"And seeing as you're not going to be persuaded _not_ to go to Hogwarts this year, this is probably the best bet."

"Well thank you guys!" I looked down at my watch, and seeing that it was about time to go, I gave them all one last hug and thanked them again. "I'll see you all at Christmas then. Bye!"

I led Edward away from the group, and they all subtly pretended to do other things so that we could have a more private goodbye. I chuckled when I saw that Alice was talking to the gnomes again...she had actually managed to gather a little crowd of them around her. I think she began to tell them a story...Typical Alice.

"You're sure you won't be persuaded to stay?" he said, slightly desperately. I looked up into his golden eyes, seeing the fear in them and sighed.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I need to go. Who else will defend everyone else who can't be defend themselves? We've lost Harry, Ron and Hermione this year, we need as many people as we can get. Besides," I smiled, poking his solid chest, "Maybe it won't be as bad as we're all thinking!"

He smiled, but I knew it was only really for my sake. We both knew that it would be that bad.

"I love you," he said softly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear gently.

"I love you too," I whispered, and stood on my tip-toes to kiss him.

I heard Mrs Weasley calling my name and telling me we needed to leave, so I gave him one last kiss, and said goodbye. He caught my hand, just as I was turning away. "Stay safe," he murmured.

"You too," I said quietly, and then left.

_Star star star_

The arrival at the train station was a sombre one. I knew that Ginny was severely missing Harry – after all, they had been close friends for most of last year, and then had gone out for a good few months. How could she not miss him? This was also the first year she had come to Hogwarts without another member of her family there. So of course it would be hard for her.

I was feeling nervous, to be honest. Most years at school could be sort of predictable – not very much, obviously, it was _Hogwarts – _but we'd always had Dumbledore, and that meant it would be safe. Now? I wasn't so sure.

And I missed Edward already.

Getting onto the platform, we saw Neville standing alone amongst the crowd, so we said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Weasley before making our way over to him. The platform was bizarre this year – it didn't have the excited atmosphere that I had come to associate with platform 9 ¾, and everyone seemed a lot quieter than usual.

"Hey Neville," I said, giving him a hug as we got to him.

"Hey Bella, Ginny. How are you guys?" He, too, had an anxious air about him, as if he were expecting a death eater to jump out and kill us all at any moment. It wasn't that ridiculous a thought to be honest, in these days.

"Fine," Ginny replied miserably, "You?"

"Same," he said, and we all understood that we were on the same page here. "They're not here then?" he looked behind us, almost wistfully. I shook my head, knowing that he meant Harry, Ron and Hermione, and he sighed. "I figured," he said quietly, "I just hoped, you know? If they were here, then it would be all less real. Harry always had this way of...boosting the morale of everyone, you know?"

"Yeah," Ginny said. "I miss him."

Neville sighed, and then said, "Well, we should probably get on the train, I guess."

Once on the train, we met up with Luna, and Seamus soon joined us too. Even Luna seemed less dreamy and excited than normal. Both of them looked around us for the trio, but when they didn't see them they didn't say anything, although their shoulders seemed to droop a little more.

"Where's Dean, Seamus?" I asked him quietly, wary of whom might be listening.

"He's a muggle-born, isn't he?" Seamus said his voice sad. "Too dangerous."

I sighed. "This sucks."

"We'll stick together, though, right?" Neville said, looking at us all. "After all, we've got to. If we don't look out for each other...who will?"

We all nodded in agreement. Vaguely, I noticed that the train had moved on from the city life and was working its way through the country-side. "School isn't gonna be what it was," said Seamus. "Not without Dumbledore."

"You don't realise what you've got until it's gone," said Luna sadly, looking down at the copy of _the Quibbler_ she held in her hands.

We all made small noises to show that we agreed. A tapping on the window made us all jump in fright, and Ginny sprang to her feet when she saw the owl that was struggling to keep up with the train. She opened the window quickly to let it in, and it flew over to me, dropped a letter on my lap, and then left as quickly as it had come. I stared at the letter, stunned.

"Oh, right." I said, disconcerted, before opening it and scanning the contents.

_Bella,_

_I'm so sorry that I ran off so quickly at the wedding, and I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to contact you. I have been having some trouble with many things recently, and that conversation was just added stress and I ran, but that was no excuse for running off like that. Over the past year, ever since I taught you really, I have enjoyed getting to know you more, and have grown to love you like my own child. _

_I have thought much about our conversation at the wedding over the past few weeks, and while I have had a few revelations about the subject, I am unwilling to have this discussion over letter. I only sent this as a letter in the hope that it would get to you before you get to Hogwarts. But I would like to talk to you, and soon. So maybe we can talk tomorrow, say about nine? Use the object that the Cullen's gave you._

_Do not reply to this letter, as I fear that any letters may be read. This is a risk itself, and I am unwilling to put anything more to risk._

_I hope to speak to you soon,_

_Remus._

I read over the letter again, slightly nervous, and then handed it to Ginny, who looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Are you going to talk to him?" she whispered, as the others dissolved into quiet conversation to give us privacy, understanding that this wasn't something I wanted to talk about with everyone.

"Yes," I said decidedly. "He is my father, after all, and I would like to get to know him as that."

"Do you think he knows?" Ginny asked, "That he's your father, I mean."

I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't think so. I think he would have approached me before this if he knew."

She nodded. "Yeah, I don't really see him hiding something like that from you."

"I think he has his suspicions though," I said, thinking it over in my head, "I mean, he's not an idiot, he can work things like this out...he knows exactly how old I am."

Before she could reply, the train shuddered to a stop. We all looked around, panicked. We could hear worried voices all the way up and down the train, someone even screamed, and I popped my head out of our compartment to see what was going on. I knew that a lot of us were remembering the dementors from my second year, and a sense of dread filled my stomach. Nobody seemed to know what was happening, until a bearded man dressed in black robes appeared at the end of the train. He was going into compartments all the way up the train, slamming every door as he left them. It appeared that he was looking for something.

Or some_one._

Going back into the compartment, I sat back down and said, "Death eater," I said. At their panicked looks, I said, "Don't worry, I think he's doing a search of the train."

"For Harry?" asked Seamus.

I shrugged, "That's my best guess."

We all sat in silence until the bearded man entered the compartment, his wand out. Neville, who had been oddly quiet for a while, rose to his feet, and the death eater trained his wand on him.

"He's not here," he spat out. "So you can quit looking."

_What is this, I hear you say! An update only a few days after my last chapter? How can this be, a year has not passed yet! Well, my friends, it would seem that the fact that I am meant to be studying for my maths exam has somehow fuelled me in the completely opposite direction and I'm writing more than I have in a long time. I hope you've all had a wonderful Valentine's day! I was literally showered with cards and gifts...the bell rang every couple of minutes with a delivery of flowers, and boys were literally queuing down the street for my affections...naah, I "studied" and built a fort out of blankets :L But it was fun nonetheless...the fort bit, not the studying :L Also, wrote a glee one-shot, so if you'd like, I'd love it if you checked that out =) _

_So I was reading some stuff from W&V to check and see if there were any plots that I had missed out for my plan for this story (note to self...always plan before you start!) and I realised that I completely abandoned the Jacob plot half way through the story! If you noticed, I'm so sorry...if you didn't...i'm still sorry :L so I'm gonna try and somehow get him back into the story, for all you Jacob lovers =P Don't worry, he won't replace Edward though! Anyhoo, I'll quit rambling now! Hope you enjoyed this, thanks for the reviews for last chapter and I hope you'll spare the time to drop me a review for this one! _


	7. Chapter 7

_I don't own Harry Potter or Twilight._

Chapter Seven

As soon as we got to Hogwarts any hope of it being a little bit like the school we knew and loved disappeared. The atmosphere was different somehow...instead of the joyous enviroment that I had grown used to inside these walls and that I sort of took for granted, I guess, there was an air of fear and anxiety. Only the Slytherins looked comfortable in their seats in the Great Hall, smirking as Snape stood up to address something to the hall. I noticed that there were very few first years here this year, and the ones that were here had already been sorted. There was one at the Gryffindor table, who was pale white, his eyes darting around the hall in terror. With a jolt, I realised that the ones that were not here must be the muggle-borns and half bloods. What had they done to them?

Snape began to speak, "Another new year at Hogwarts." I shook my head slightly, already noticing the deliberate differences between his and Dumbledore's opening speeches – Dumbledore always welcomed us. It shouldn't surprise me that we were getting none of that here. "And a new year...calls for a new start. This year, there will be a no tolerance misbehaviour policy. Anyone doing so will be sent to Professor Carrow and Professor Carrow, who are taking care of punishment." I surveyed the two siblings, and fear ran through me. They didn't look like they would hold back in their discipline, I thought as I saw the female one smile evilly, and flick her hair over her shoulder. She was holding her wand in one hand, stroking it lightly with her finger, as if desperate to try out various spells of punishment on the terrified students in front of her.

Snape did not say much else in his speech. He nattered on about the new regime, and how misbehaviour would not be accepted, basically enhancing what he had already said. Then he smiled in a way that I could tell would haunt my dreams, and said, "It will be a good year. A new year. A new beginning." He then flicked his wrist, and the food appeared on the table.

The luxurious meals we had known from past years had gone. The food was still good and nutritious, but it had nothing on what I had known in the past. Ginny elbowed me slightly and nodded over to the Slytherin table. I noticed that they had the food of old, and realised once more that this year was going to be one full of trials and tribulations.

Once dinner was finished, we headed up to the common room, and sat down on the couches near the fire, none of us wanting to go to bed yet. Professor McGonagall had followed us up, and bid us all stay so she could speak to everyone for a moment.

"Children," she started, "I am not happy with the changes here this year. But I am afraid they are out with my control." She sighed, and her voice was angry, her crisp Edinburgh accent sounding more pronounced than usual. "But I must warn you. The school is not as safe as it has always been. The punishments for your actions _will be dire._ The consequences will not be the same as they have been. I know you are all Gryffindors. I know that you are brave. But I bid you, if you can, stay quiet. There are some battles that you _cannot_ fight, for the sake of your safety. I understand that it will be hard. When you hear them say things that you know are wrong, that are insulting and unkind, some of you will feel the need to speak out. But I beg you – remember the consequences. " She sighed, and looked at us all with sad eyes. "I say this," she said quietly, "But I know that many of you will ignore my words. And I will try to support you as much as I can. Just...be careful. There are some battles that you do not need to fight."

With that she nodded at us all and then stepped out of the portrait hole.

The next morning, we sat down at breakfast, again noticing that our food was more plain than the Slytherins. Ginny sighed. "I guess this is something I just have to get used to." I laughed. Her mother's food was amazing.

"What d'you reckon?" I asked her, nodding up at the teacher's table. "Of the Carrow's?"

"I don't like them," she said quietly. "They've got this...look about them. They're gonna be trouble."

I nodded, and smiled slightly as Neville and Seamus sat down next to us. "Dorms so empty." Neville said. "It's just me and Seamus."

"What about Dean?" I asked, my brow wrinkling, noticing Ginny look slightly sad at the thought of her brother and Harry not being here this year.

Seamus sighed, "Well...he's half blood isn't he? Too dangerous."

Ginny sighed. "This is wrong."

"Hello, guys." Came a soft voice as Luna skipped over and sat down across from us. "How are you all?"

"Hey Luna," said Ginny. "Fine, how about you?"

Just as Luna was about to speak, the slimy voice of our new Headmaster, Severus Snape came over their shoulders. "Pupils shall sit at their house tables during meals."

Looking up with disbelief, I opened my mouth to protest loudly before my eyes caught McGonagall's, watching us carefully from the teacher's table, and I remembered her words from last night. She shook her head slightly, and I realised that maybe this was what she was talking about. It was unfair, yes, but it was something we could live with. We should save our battles for other times. So I said nothing, and Luna nodded lightly, said goodbye and wandered back over to the Ravenclaw table.

Not too long after, McGonagall came along with our timetables. I looked down at mine and realised I had Muggle Studies as a subject. "Um, Professor," I said, just as she was giving Ginny hers.

"Yes, Miss Swan?"

"I think there's a mistake. I don't do Muggle Studies."

She shook her head, "I'm afraid, Miss Swan, that Muggle Studies is now necessary for every student to attend."

This confused me to no end. "But...what?" Surely the whole point of this was to detach ourselves as far as we could from the muggle community.

She sighed and said quietly: "I believe that this will not be the...conventional form of muggle studies. It has been revised, so to speak."

I didn't like the tone she used when she described this, it scared me. I shared a look with Ginny, who looked just as worried as I felt. I put my schedule down next to my plate, and grabbed some toast and buttered it quickly. I bit into it and felt disappointed when I realised that it was cold. Sighing, I continued to eat it, wanting to be able to survive for the rest of the day.

A bell suddenly rang, and I realised that it must be time to go to class. Everybody, except the first years, looked around, confused. There had been bells at school before, but never one that was quite so loud or demanding. They were more like guidelines, but this seemed to resemble an exact demand to go to class. Ginny and I shared a look, again, and got up quickly. Muggle Studies was our first class, and soon we realised that all sixth years were headed the same way as us.

When we got to class, there was a seating plan. _A seating plan. _At the back of the class, the Slytherins were already seated, smiling smugly, their uniforms perfect. The teacher, the female Carrow, I realised, was sitting on her desk, one leg crossed over the other, her hands clasped on her lap, smiling sweetly. Carrow pointed to the board, where the plan was. Looking quickly, I realised that I was sitting right at the front, on the right hand side, with Richie Coote next to me. Ginny was at the table right next to me, the middle at the front, directly in front of the teacher's desk, with another pure-blooded Gryffindor next to her, Demelza Robins.

It was quickly clear to me that Carrow had placed us according to blood status. Ginny and I were right at the front because, despite both being pure blooded, we did not uphold the same ideals that the death eaters did. She clearly wanted to keep an eye on us.

"Those of you who are late," she said once everyone was seated. "Will wait behind after class." She then pointed to those who she deemed "late" – meaning, every Gryffindor in the room. "You are expected to be in class _on. The. Bell." _Her voice was deadly.

Richie looked at me, his eyebrows raised. How were we supposed to know that. The teacher then smiled, and stood. "Now that we've got that little problem sorted, let's start the lesson!" with a wave of her wand she vanished the seating plan from the board. She then flicked her wand again, shaping letters into the words: _Magic Is Might._

"Magic is might," she read off the board, and turned to smile at us all. "In this class, you will learn the truth about the world. For the majority of your lives you have heard things that are _lies."_

"Like what, Professor?" a Slytherin from the back of the class shouted. She seemed elated that he had asked and grinned.

"I'm so glad you asked!" she said, her smile widening, and she clasped her hands together delightedly. "For years, the Ministry of Magic has told us that muggles are to be trusted. That they are just like us. That _mating_ with them is acceptable." The disgust in her voice was frightening, and I could feel anger rising up within me. "In this class, I shall teach you of the new order of things. New discoveries about muggles – they are not to be trusted. And _muggleborns_ are not to be trusted."

"What?" I couldn't help myself. It just came out. There was a slight silence, and she looked surprised that somebody had interrupted her oh-so-inspiring speech.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor." She said. "If a student wishes to speak then said student should raise their hand."

"Fifty points! But whatshisname just spoke out and you didn't take any points from Slytherin!" I exclaimed, shocked. She looked pointedly at me, so I sighed, rolled my eyes, and put my hand in the air.

"Yes, Miss..." she looked down at the register on her desk, although she clearly already knew my name, "Swan."

"Um, yeah, how can you say that muggleborns and muggles are not to be trusted?" Maybe not the most articulate I'd ever sounded, but I was angry, and hey, my point still came across.

"Because they are dirty, unnatural." She said, a smile still on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"No they're not!" Ginny exclaimed loudly. "They're just like us! Just because they can't do magic doesn't make them –"

"Another fifty points from Gryffindor. Oh, dear, dear, Gryffindor are not doing very well this year, are we?" She came closer to the desk Ginny was sitting at and looked down on her. Ginny stared straight back, her arms folded, defiant. "This is not a debate class, children. I teach you the way things are. You do not debate in History of Magic, or in...in Transfiguration! Do you?" Without waiting for an answer, she carried on. "This is the way things are now. And this is how they will stay. And it is the best it has ever been."

She spoke with a distinct lack of elegance in her voice, which made her sound quite stupid, I thought vaguely, before noticing she was looking at me. "Miss Swan, and Miss Weasley, the two of you will serve detention, tonight for your rudeness and misbehaviour."

"Fine." I muttered mutinously.

"Ten points from Gryffindor."

This was going to be a harder year than I had thought. I decided to call Edward later on the mirror they gave me...I got the feeling that the post would not be the safest way to communicate anymore.

_Hi guys! Rather abrupt ending, I know, but I wanted to get something out to you guys as it's been a wee while since I've updated. I've got exams for the next three weeks, so don't expect toooo much from me, but you never know. I always manage to update more around exam time, for some reason. Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review! =D _


	8. Chapter 8

_Don't own either books._

Chapter 8

Most of the other classes went pretty much without a hitch. The same teachers remained – however, they were tight-lipped, stressed, any joy that they had seemed to radiate a little bit in previous years was gone, and replaced with ever present worry. McGonagall informed us when we were in a class with only Hufflepuffs, that she had been instructed to send any misbehaving students to the Carrows, however, if we co-operated with her then there would be no need. She did not, however, say anything about co-operating with the Carrows.

I ate dinner quickly that night, and Ginny and myself turned up at Professor Carrow's office at six on the dot, not wanting to be accused of tardiness again. I knocked lightly on the door and after hearing a quiet "come in", Ginny and I stepped into her office.

We were greeted with the sight of a grinning Crabbe and Goyle, a couple of nervous looking fifth years, also Slytherins, and one sixth year, a boy from our year, who looked like he couldn't decide whether he was happy or terrified to be there. Both Carrow siblings were also there, the male stroking his wand with a sort of malicious delight.

I glanced at Ginny nervously and waited for someone to speak.

_?_

"_Ow." _I muttered, as I wiped at the gash on my arm carefully. Ginny agreed quietly, and Neville sat next to us, carefully bandaging Ginny's ankle – she had already cleaned her own wound. He looked concerned, his brow pulled together in concentration.

"You okay?" asked Ginny, looking up. I nodded.

"I sorta wish we had Luna in this house, she actually knows some healing spells."

"Yeah." Said Neville, finishing up on Ginny, and motioning for my arm. He hissed lightly as he saw the cut there, before picking up a bandage and wrapping it carefully.

"Hi guys," said Seamus, collapsing down next to us, "How was – what the _heck_ happened?"

Ginny smiled a little, "Detention!"

"Crap." He muttered. I nodded my agreement slightly bitterly.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

Holding back a retort, I let Ginny answer, knowing that I would just snap at him and then feel guilty afterwards. "It's manageable," she said, smiling and flexing her ankle a little.

"Thanks Neville," I sighed as he finished up. "You're really good at this." I told him, inspecting my arm.

"Herbology," he said with a smile, "It's no DADA, but plants can be brutal."

I chuckled and then sighed, "This year's not gonna be fun."

"Nope," muttered Seamus, popping the 'p'.

"Well, I'm gonna go upstairs for a bit," I said, intending to call Edward on my mirror, hoping he wouldn't be worrying too much.

X

Life went on. Classes went on. For me, I just tried to keep my mouth shut for times when it mattered. The day after my detention, McGonagall had called Ginny and I to her office and given us a mouthful about what she had told us about keeping quiet. Then she took my arm and healed it quickly, following suit with Ginny.

"Girls...what you did...well, it was a very foolish thing to do. But, for what it's worth – as much as I feel you should not said what you did...I am proud of you."

After that time Neville had managed to get a detention, as well as Seamus, and Luna had somehow managed to get three. We all spent most of our time in our common rooms, taking comfort in the fact that it was unlikely that nobody would attack us there. The corridors were more dangerous than they had once been, and pupils were disappearing regularly. And even though we missed seeing people like Luna and Eric in our spare time...at least we were moderately safe.

But my attempted silence only lasted a couple of weeks – I couldn't hold it in during muggle studies one day and ended up yelling at the teacher. Which meant that I was entitled to one punishment. They had devised an odd sort of system, in which if someone deserved a punishment, they were referred to the Carrows...who then gave the responsibility to students in the DADA class, during the class itself. So far, I had not experienced this – Neville had, and so had Luna, but this would be my first time.

I walked into the class nervously, noticing that the desks had been pushed back against the walls in preparation for the class today. Carrow smiled wickedly at me, his face ugly in the sick sense of glee he held over doing this to children.

Ginny stood next to me as we waited for everyone else to appear.

"Swan!" he exclaimed, once everybody had come. "Into the middle of the class please."

"Good luck," Ginny whispered to me, and I smiled, trying to ignore my fear. I knew what was coming, but I didn't want to give them the joy of seeing me afraid – I would _not_ give them that sort of pleasure. So I kept my head up in the air defiantly, my hands by my sides and waited for whatever he was going to do.

"Mr Malfoy, up we come." Draco looked up, as if surprised to hear his name, and then looked at me. Hesitantly, he got to his feet, his wand in his hand, his face whiter than normal. He walked slowly, as if the short walk to where I was standing was miles and miles.

"Excellent, excellent," he said, seemingly ignorant to the boy's reluctance. "Well, I know that _you_ know what to do, Draco."

He nodded once, and Carrow stepped back, still smiling widely. Draco turned his head slightly, staring at me, his eyes wide. There was something in them – regret? He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he turned and looked at the teacher, who nodded impatiently and Draco sighed, before turning his wand to me. He hesitated again, before murmuring "_Crucio."_

I didn't scream, but I did fall to the ground. The pain, however, was fleeting, and Draco looked terrified as he stared at his wand, almost as if it was its fault that he hadn't been able to do the spell properly. I sat up, looking at him, and he looked at me, the same unrecognisable emotion in his eyes, before he turned to Carrow, who looked angry.

"Come on, Malfoy, don't hold back!" he exclaimed. "I _know_ you can do better than that."

He nodded, before turning his wand to me again, uttering the spell, but only having the same result as before.

Carrow sighed, and pushed him out the way. "Do we need a demonstration, _Mr_ Malfoy?"

He nodded hurriedly, looking nervous.

The older man nodded, before turning to me and yelling "_Crucio!"_

X

"Well that was a fun lesson today," I muttered darkly when we were sitting in the common room later that day.

Ginny sighed and said, "Yeah, he wasn't letting you of, was he?"

"What do you think was with Malfoy though?" asked Neville, his eyebrows raised. "He's never had trouble with that spell before."

I shrugged, not wanting to think about it, "Maybe he's just having a bad day."

Ginny nodded, but both of them looked unconvinced.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we need to do something about this." I looked at Neville, the determination in his voice startling me. "I know we talked about wanting to do something earlier, but I was talking to Luna earlier, and we both think that we need to restart the DA. It's all we _can _do."

Ginny sat up, her eyes lighting up for the first time in a while. "_Yes._ That's brilliant."

"But who will teach us?" I asked, the pessimist as always.

"We can help each other. Look after each other. Just be a support group – look after the younger students."

I nodded, liking the sound of it. "We just need to be doing something." He said, his shoulders slumping slightly, "I can't just sit here and...and do _nothing._"

"I think it's a great idea, Neville," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He smiled at me, and Ginny was grinning suddenly.

"So it's settled," she said excitedly, "We'll resurrect Dumbledore's Army."

_Hello =) Right, I'm aware that this is not perfect. I did it quite quickly, but I had sudden inspiration and wanted to get this out as quickly as I could. Please excuse me for any errors or just rubbish sounding sentences =P In other news, I have a funny story to tell you all =') Yesterday I went to go and give blood...a bit of advice for you all, if you decide to give blood, eat and drink loads before you go :L I got there and they made me go and get a Subway because I hadn't eaten a big enough breakfast and hadn't had anything to drink...I know, that was stupid :L And then when I came up i had about five nurses round me attempting to find a decent vein – they didn't manage, but the one they did find refused to give out any blood :L So all I ended up with was a leaflet on bruises and a Tunnock's Teacake...so that's my story. Don't let it put you off, apparently I just have tiny veins :L It's a great thing to do, if you are able, and if you live in Britain, the biscuit selection is brilliant...If you live in America, well, apparently you get money for doing it? :L So really, it's a win win situation._

_Anyway, sorry for boring you, I'm just really amused by this :L Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review! =D _


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